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Janis Veinbergs
Asked: 2010-07-21 02:47:21 +0800 CST

What if my core switch is not routing capable (no Layer 3 routing)?

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Looking for a core (other switches and devices are connected to this switch) switch at our company.

I wonder if splitting LAN into VLANS and then gaining access to some computers to that network is possible without layer 3 switch?

And what's possible with layer 3 switch and not possible with layer 2 ? What if we want to connect 2 networks over internet?

routing switch

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    A VLAN is, essentially, a virtual switch. If you have VLANs with different IP netblocks on them, you'll need a Layer 3 device to provide connectivity between the VLANs. If you have them all on the same IP range, you'll need Layer 2 connectivity between the VLANs and the VLAN partitioning is pointless.

    Having VLANs with different subnets and no routing between them would work on L2 switches, as long as you have VLAN trunks between them, but in that scenario, you're segregating the different VLANs and making it impossible to communicate between them.

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